


Old-Fashioned Doctorin'

by Wallwalker



Series: HSO Bonus Round-Up [8]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Western, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, character injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-24
Updated: 2012-06-24
Packaged: 2017-11-08 10:36:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/442281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wallwalker/pseuds/Wallwalker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Team Charge always comes to him after their fights with their sworn rivals, for rest and for fixing up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Old-Fashioned Doctorin'

It was a perfectly ordinary day at the Fancy Cat Saloon when someone kicked down the doors hard enough to send splinters of wood plunging into the bar.

The barkeep was irritated. "Again, you two?" he asked, as soon as he could start to stand up from behind the bar. "That's the third time this week!"

"Uh, sorry," Tavros said, sheepishly. "I'm just, uh, in kind of a hurry?"

The barkeep could see why, once he got his specs on and had a good look at the two of them. Aradia was obviously in pain, and there was an awful lot of red blood on her clothes. "Oh, mercy me," he says, "you two getting into trouble again!"

"Trouble - ugh - came looking for us!" Aradia protested, grimacing. "But it's okay! We sent the Scourge Sisters packing!"

"Yeah, um, but we need to take care of her now," Tavros says, looking back at his partner. "Aradia got, well, unlucky. I guess."

She moaned slightly, then smiled again. "Sounds... about right."

The barkeep rolled his eyes at their apparently willingness to banter at each other while one of them was about to bleed out on his floor. "C'mon, then," he says, "let's go."

He took them downstairs, not up - he had a sort of makeshift clinic down there, for people who couldn't afford to go to the doc, or who couldn't go for whatever reason. He was pretty good at that sort of thing himself, and if he hadn't lost his own moirail the way he had... well. But at least he could help these two, who were young and stupid and obviously so pale for each other they could barely think straight, and who'd probably end up sold to the crooked sheriff the second they set foot in the town clinic. Everyone knew the sheriff was a friend of the Scourge Sisters, but these two kids were the only ones brave enough to stand up to 'em, and everyone loved 'em for it.

"We got 'em, though," Aradia was saying as Tavros gently laid her down on the bed. She was just a slip of a girl; she was too sweet and pretty for all those scars, the old troll thought. "Thanks to Tavros, here! If you hadn't done that trick with their horses -"

"Aww," he said, grinning like a fool as he went for some fresh towels. He'd done this a lot, the barkeep thought sadly. He still remembered how scared he'd been the first time; he'd been shaking so bad at the thought of his moirail dying that he hadn't been able to even move, and the old barkeep had just had to let him shiver until he'd been able to control himself. He understood all too well how that thought. "You're the one who, who got them to run away, though... I'm just, uh, your helper."

"Oh, come on, don't say that! We're a team right? Team Charge never backs down from villains like the Scourge Sisters!"

"Yes, well, we'd best hope, um, that they don't come back for a while," he says, as he starts working on her simple dress. The wound's bad, but not as bad as he'd feared, at first. "Uh, not that I think they will?"

"Okay, kids, no more talking," the barkeep snapped, at last. He'd indulged them for too long. "We've gotta get to work, here!"

"Oh, right," Tavros said. "Sorry." Aradia just stuck out her tongue, but fell silent all the same.

The injury wasn't the most horrible one he'd ever seen; it had narrowly avoided piercing anything lethal. Still, it was touch and go for a while, and all he had in terms of painkillers were a few strong drinks. He got Tavros to feed them to her, and she did, all the while whispering very softly that she was going to be all right, that he was there for her. And she'd drink them down, and then whisper back that she knew, and then wince again as he went digging for the shot that was still in there somewhere.

After a while, though, it was done, as well as it could be - no more bleeding, the bullet out, the wound clean and covered. "You're gonna have to stay here," he said. "Tavros. Help me carry her up somewhere more comfortable."

"Right," he said, and they carried her upstairs together, Tavros at her shoulders and the barkeep at her feet. Fortunately no one had come in to see the spectacle - still too nervous about the Scourge, no doubt - and they got her up to a private room easily enough.

"Okay, I've gotta deal with that damned door now," the old man said once they'd gotten her settled in. She was dozing now, which was good. "Keep an eye on her and come and get me if you need me, right?"

"Oh! Right. Here," Tavros said, and handed him some money - it was more than the damages cost, far more, but the old man didn't embarrass him by turning it away. Team Charge didn't care about money, or so they both said. "Thanks again," he said, smiling. "I mean, seriously. I really can't thank you enough for all you've, um, done for me and Aradia."

"It's all right, kid," he said, and smiled. Every time he looked at them he saw his own moirail, bleeding out what he had left of his yellow blood, yelling at him to get away or else the bandits would kill them both. Helping the kids was as much a way to help himself as anything else. At least it made him feel a little less useless anymore. "It's all right."

Tavros was sitting by her tank and stroking her forehead as he went downstairs.

**Author's Note:**

> HSO Bonus Round 1, prompt for pale Aradia/Tavros, Western + Hurt/Comfort.


End file.
